Vintage Event: Wartime Weekend at Pickering 2013

I went to Pickering last year and it was a lot of fun, so my family and I decided to go again this year to soak up some of the vintagey times together.

The wartime weekend is a perfect mix of historical reenactment, vintage shopping and a sort of festival atmosphere as there are many sites all along the North Yorkshire Moors Railway that are taking part in the festival.

Sadly however, unlike last year, this year the weather was rubbish. We managed to wrap up and still cope with the rain, but it meant that a lot of the outside things like DJs and dancing were cancelled. Sad times.

I had to cobble together an outfit as my stuff is still split between the north and the south. I did have a Jaeger suit from the 1970s though that I felt had a bit of a 40s look so I decided that was a good option. There is a faint blue tinge to the fabric so I wore a blue hat with it too. I also wore my stole since it keeps me nice and warm. Oh did I mention that the suit was £7?! Yeah! eBay bargain!

My mum also decided to get into the spirit of things wearing my Grandmothers fur coat that I mentioned in this post. Oh and I did her hair... it was super soft and kinda short so I was so pleased that I even managed to get a twist at the back of her hair. My husband and Dad weren't dressed up so we made them be our pro-photographers.

There were lots of people dressed for the occasion through despite the weather and as usual they had the train platforms split so that you could take pretty nifty pictures of all the vintage-y folks.

Including Winston Churchill...

The  local choir was singing We'll meet again...

It was also great to see the medical professionals were out in force too.

I adored the portable Glambulance, not only were they doing a great job at giving ladies fantastic up-dos, but their name was also a pun!

Some dodgy dealings going on in the black market.

Is this young chap really old enough to drive?! I'm not sure he looks too happy about being stuck in the car all day.

As usual there was a heavy focus on the armed forces, of remembering those that fought in the War and the lives of those that were touched by the war. I found the poppy appeal display very sad in particular, they seem to have a different on each year, and they never fail to make me well up a little bit. I think the North Yorkshire Wartime Weekend really does find the right balance between remembrance and historical fun - something I'm sure they'll keep up in the future!

Oh and of all the vintage cars I saw, I adored this one. I made me think of Captain America, but upon a closer inspection it turned out to be an Australian Chrysler, not what I expected. Mind you that doesn't make this care any less amazing. If this is yours I, and my family are very jealous!

  

Phew, that was a super picture heavy post. We ended up spending the Sunday in York as it was raining and so windy so I don't know if anything happened on that day. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better next year!

Bye for now!

Casual Cosplay: Ugly Betty's Betty Suarez

I get ready for work between around 6:40 and 8:00 depending on what time I catch my train to work. Now at 7:10, E4 has been showing re-runs of Ugly Betty. This is a show I watched a lot of back when it was originally aired but it is a show I still like to watch today. I think it has a lovely level of silly fluff mixed with real life serious dilemmas (okay, perhaps more fluff than the other stuff but anyway) and I always find it cheers me up.

I had a bit of a weird Betty style crush back in 2006 and I think that's because I'm such a fan of a good ol' print dress and cardigan combo although I have to admit I think Betty occasionally over-did the frump a tad but I thought it had a great look about it. Although to be honest this isn't really surprising since costume designer Patricia Field was responsible for the shows look, and heck that mismatched print thing is pretty typical of Carrie in Sex and the City too.

So naturally when one morning last week I woke up with giant frizzy hair from sleeping in plaits I thought, Hey! You know who has this hair? Betty Suarez. So I decided to attempt a days survival in an outfit inspired by Ugly Betty herself. 

As I've said before Betty's look is a mix of clashing colours and prints AND textures...

Source

Here's my look inspired by Betty. I perhaps kept it a bit too toned down, perhaps that dress as a blouse with a stripy skirt would have nailed it a bit more, but I think you get the idea. I did need to go out in this outfit and I didn't want to scare the people of Tunbridge Wells I thought the frizz festival of hair was scary enough.

For a sort of outside look I decided to team the same dress with a blazer, as inspired by this picture (note the giant hair also!):

Source

I have a sort of grey/browny blazer that came from next via a charity shop that I wore, since I thought adding another colour clash could only help the situation, but I think it actually ended up matching quite well :S Obviously carrying a file as Betty is a hard working assistant!

Dress: French, via eBay £4

Tights: £3 Primark (they do the best tights!)

Cardigan: £8 M&S via eBay

Blazer: £6 Next via charity shop

Belt: £1 charity shop

Scarf: Free, Beyond Retro

Then there was the face...

Poor Betty, her grinning face was plastered everywhere as part of the marketing for the show. Now I'm doing the same, only I don't have a show :(

Here's my Betty inspired face. Excuse the braces, I tried using an app but it worked so badly this is the best I could come up with, but you get the idea... The glasses are my husbands, and they are BROKEN (see the Harry Potter style tape holding them together?) and I wasted at least one use of my Mac brow setter getting my eyebrows to stick up like that. But anywho, its all just a bit of fun. I would recommend Betty as a Halloween costume though as its pretty inexpensive to cobble a look like this together with some charity shop trawling!

Did you like Ugly Betty's style? Or did you think it was just, well, ugly?

A trip to the beach, a snuggly aran and a autumn check dress

Hello there! A little while ago my parents came to visit the south and they booked a lovely little cottage close to Hastings and fortunately they had spare beds in the cottage so I could come visit them for a night too. The cottage was called Park Farm, and it was on a real working farm although I didn't manage to spot any horses while I was there. The car park in front was pretty much a stable yard, but it had a rather nice charm.

My favourite part of the cottage was that there was a lovely spiral staircase leading up to the second bedroom. How cool is that?!

I needed a comfortable outfit that was warm but suitable for the beach, which is usually a bit tricky, so I decided to go with a vintage check dress with a sort of mandarin style collar with a full skirt that is light and pretty sturdy. I teamed it with some boots for the beach and some walking socks to keep my feet toasty and finally an old aran cardigan that is MASSIVE but super snuggly so I really don't care.

One problem tiny problem I have with the South East is that I miss the amazing wild beaches of the North East. I miss the sand. For me, the pebble beaches don't really cut it. So finding out that there is a large sandy beach on the south coast meant that I had to go on a little trip. 

Camber is one of the largest beaches around Kent and Sussex. I visited on a cloudy and slightly windy day but luckily it wasn't too cold. Here is the dress without the cardigan.

There were several beach houses near to the front, I did wonder what it must be like to live at the beach but I think I wouldn't be able to cope without a high street filled with charity shops!

Sorry this picture is slightly blurry, I pinched it from the display on my Mum's camera and its not the greatest quality, but I simply loved the reflection!

There is one little thing the Southern beaches have that the beach at my home town doesn't, and that is amazing shells! Lots of lovely bivalves and swirly snail shells. The little girl in me was so happy to be collecting shells I really like them (I do have a necklace with a seashell on it too, its a summer favourite). 

Where is your favourite beach?

Princess Daisy Cosplay Construction

Now that its October I thought I could mention a bit about costumes for this month. I am going to MCMExpo and I am wearing my Sailor Mars costume on the Sunday. On the Saturday however I am going to be dressing as Princess Daisy from the Super Mario game franchise.

I have always loved the Mario games, and have especially had a soft spot for Luigi and Daisy so this costume seemed like a natural choice for me, especially given that I am a natural brunette. Here is the picture I have been working off to give you some idea:

I ordered the fabric online and cut all the pieces. I based it loosely on a vintage pattern and adjusted the length, added sleeves and the frills to the skirt and waist.

Bodice construction with the addition of a collar:

Testing the fit once I added the sleeves:

Here is where I am right now, the dress is mostly complete but a few touches need adding like the jewel on the bust (sorry for the goofy face...).

Its been quite an undertaking, but actually it was a really pleasure to sew! I would really reccommend poly cotton for costume construction as it is so cheap and really easy to sew. It only cost me £7 for the entire 7 m of fabric I used. The underskirt was £2.50, a total steal from eBay, so the foam I bought for the crown is actually one of the more expensive pieces of the costume.

I won't be posting any more pictures of the costume as I am saving it for MCM Expo and want it to be a surprise but do let me know what you think so far.

Are you making a costume or dressing up for Halloween?

A Vintage Sailor Dress By Laura Ashley

You know what? I adore a sailor dress. From the nautical looks form the early 20th century to a Japanese school uniform. I had three sailor dresses when I was a little girl, not unusual for a child growing up in the 90s as I believe they were pretty trendy at that point in time. Here is a picture of me wearing my red sailor dress c1992.

Now although I loved this dress at the time I don't think a bigger version of it would suit me at all, mainly because it is dropped waist. The dropped waist was very in fashion in the 80s and early 90s (as well as the 1920s) and it was fine for me as a young 'un but it is not something that could work for me with the way my figure is.

When looking for vintage sailor dresses, a lot of them are dropped waist styles, especially if you are looking at an iconic Laura Ashley sailor dress.

The type of thing I was after was something more like this:

This pic is from the Qs Daydream blog, check out this page for loads of gorgeous sailor dress pictures!

I have been through several sailor dresses attempting to find the perfect dress and while it has taken me a long time (around 8 years), I can proudly say, I HAVE FOUND IT!

This dress is from Laura Ashley, and I am completely unsure of when it dates from. Please not that is has a natural waist so it actually works with my figure and it has a beautiful full square bib and sailor collar. Add to this the lovely blue colour and the full skirt and I am in dress heaven.

I did pay quite a lot for this dress, but I have been watching them on eBay for a long time, so I know that £45 is actually a good deal.

Here's a look at the side of the dress too and the back of my hair just in case you were curious :)

The coat was an emergency buy from a charity shop as the weather turned cold quite quickly and I did not have any of my coats with me. It is from M&S, but I think the collar and front looks a little but 60s.

However the coat has a gathered bit at the back to give it a nice full shape. If I'm honest had I seen it in a catalogue of full pice in a shop I may not have looked at it twice, but being in a charity shop I am glad that I gave it a chance. It was in near perfect condition and is a wonderful crapey fabric. Just what I needed to transition through autumn to winter.

Dress: Laura Ashley £45

Coat: M&S via charity shop £9.99

What do you think of my dream sailor dress? Now I just need to find one in red too!

Winter is coming: a red autumn leaves print dress

Oh how the weather is changing, longer nights are coming in, the temperature has dropped and as Eddard Stark would say, Winter is coming.

So what does that mean for me? Well it means breaking out the opaque tights, the cardigans, coats and bringing out the winter hats and gloves. I felt I really had the perfect dress for this.

 

I found this 1050s dress on eBay and I absolutely fell in love with it. I thought it was the perfect dress for the autumn but was a little expensive for my budget. I did my best haggling with the seller and managed to get a reduction by £10! Meaning at £35 it is the most expensive vintage dress I own, but I don't think that is a bad price for a 1950s dress.

It is always a bit of a risk when buying anything online when you aren't sure of the fit. I have a fairly good idea of my measurements and I know what style suits my shape so I think I can usually get a fair idea of what should fit. This dress worked out better than I ever hoped, it fit like a dream! I'm not sure it could have been any better - as you can tell from my face, I felt like a million bucks in this dress.

The dress also passes the twirl test as the skirt is huge.

Now because I was wearing such a nice dress, I had to do something nice with my hair. I used a bit of Batiste dry shampoo to clean up my fringe and give the top a bit more texture, but because I hadn't washed in over 2 days it meant it was much easier to work with. I split my hair into sections and had flowing swirls down from above my right ear to the nape of my neck. I added a little flower to the other side to even out the style but I thought it worked out pretty well, its the first time I've managed to do one of those shorter flat curl styles. I need to work on trying to get the look a little more sleek and hair grip placement but I was pretty pleased with the results.

There is, however, a reason that these pictures were taken inside. Outside the weather was rainy and miserable. I only have one coat here as I didn't really expect the weather to turn so quickly. I really need to head home to pick up the others, but luckily the coat I did bring was a black rain coat. Its not the best style to go with this dress, but it kept me dry!

Dress: Vintage

Shoes: Clarks

Coat: M&S

Hair Flower: Accessorize 

If you are eagle eyed you might spot the M&S bag in the above picture? Well in that bag is something I've been after for some time. As part of the Percy Pig anniversary event M&S produced a few styles of piggy banks, my favourite was the matching Percy and Penny set that I thought would be great for my husband and I to get saving!

Naturally I had to have Penny Pig since I had a flower in my hair.

Anywho, that's it for today.